Robot 'therapist' to improve productivity among TCM physicians

SINGAPORE: A robot capable of giving targeted
physiotherapy massages to relieve muscle strains and injuries has been
developed by local start-up AiTreat, and was previewed on Monday (Jul 18).

The Expert Manipulative Massage Automation (EMMA) was
created by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) graduate and AiTreat CEO
Albert Zhang.

Mr Zhang, a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) physician
of five years, said: "TCM is competing with other industries for
physically fit people who can learn TCM knowledge. It's pretty difficult. The
salaries keep increasing. The clinics are not earning a lot of profit, even
though the charge is not low any longer.

"So we hope, other than the solving the labour
shortage, the robot can also bring scientific data. So, TCM (practitioners) can
do research, can have scientific support to show to their patients what their
condition is, what their improvement is, and what should be done in the future.

"We have designed EMMA as a clinically precise tool
that can automatically carry out treatment for patients as prescribed by a
physiotherapist or Chinese physician," he added.

“Our aim is not to replace the therapists who are skilled
in sports massage and acupoint therapy, but to improve productivity by enabling
one therapist to treat multiple patients with the help of our robots."

'EMMA' TO DO HEAVY-DUTY WORK

Physicians will continue to consult patients and perform
physical check-ups - assessing what massages and methods are best - while
leaving EMMA to the heavy-duty work.

"Basically, you build a work flow to tell the robot
what to do. Then the robot will do the hard and tedious, time-consuming
work," said Mr Zhang. "After that, the physician can do the
manipulations and the acupuncture. If the physician has a lot of patients; if
he's very popular, he can have an assistant to help them operate several robots
at the same time, to serve more people and charge a lower price."

According to Mr Zhang, EMMA is probably the first such
robot in the world developed specifically for use by TCM physicians and sports
therapists.

EMMA has already been used to treat Singapore's national
basketball team using acupoint therapy.

"There are different levels that the robot masseuse
can do, so I think it will target the different needs, especially with team
sports, like basketball, where it needs to cater to more than one athlete - all
12 of us," said national basketballer Leon Kwek. "So I think if we
had a masseuse for one team, then he would be tired out by the time he reaches
the seventh or eighth athlete. I think it helps reduce his workload, at the
same time giving - in a way - equal treatment to every single one of us."

The robot comprises a single robotic arm, capable of
highly articulated movements, and also has a 3D-stereoscopic camera for vision,
and a customised, fully rotatable 3D-printed massage tip.

To ensure consistent quality of therapy, EMMA is equipped
with sensors and diagnostic functions that will measure a patient's progress,
as well as exact stiffness of a particular muscle or tendon. These are uploaded
to the AiTreat’s propriety cloud-based intelligence platform for analysis.

TREATING THE AGEING POPULATION

The robot has undergone trials at TCM clinic Kin Teck
Tong since last week, where it has treated 50 patients.

Said Ms Coco Zhang, Executive Director of Kin Teck Tong:
“Like many developed countries, Singapore has the problem of an ageing
population. Over the next decade, more people are going to suffer from physical
ailments such as arthritis and will be seeking treatment.

“In our trials with the robot, the experience has been
very good, as it can perform most treatments as well as our therapists,” she
added.

Moving forward, AiTreat will focus on developing its
second-generation robot, which is more compact and mobile, the start-up said.
The team is also looking into using heated contact pads to better simulate
human hands.

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